Finishing-evaporator.



M. B. CRESSWELL.

FINISHING EVAPORATOR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 25, 1911. 1,075,630 Patented Oct. 14, 1913.

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M. B. CRESSWELL.

PINISHING EVAPORATOR.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 25, 1911.

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MILTON B. CRESSWELL, 0F DES MOINES, IOWA.

FINISHING-EVAPORATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 14, 1913.

Application filed November 25, 1911. Serial No. 662,441.

To all whom z'zf may concern.'

Be it known that I, MILToN B. CnnssWnLL, a citizen of the United Statesof America, and resident of Des Moines, Polk county, Iowa, have inventeda new and useful Finishing-Evaporator, of which the following is aspecification.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved apparatus forrefining and finishing sorghum syrup and other saccharine substances.

A further object of this invention is to provide improved means forseparating and removing the lighter or second scum from semi-syrup afterit has entered the finishing apparatus and during the process ofboiling, without resorting to the use of hand skimmers with perforatedbottoms.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combinationof elements hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims andillustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a plan ofthe apparatus. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the apparatus. Fig. 4 is a verticalsection on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

In the drawing herewith I have illustrated my improved apparatus induplicate for the reason that it is more convenient to be able to useone such apparatus while the other is being emptied, cleaned andrefilled, thus saving considerable time between successive operations;but it is to be understood that one only of the finishers may be used ifdesired.

In the construction of the apparatus as shown the numeral 10 designatesa boiling tank which is open at its top and supported in any desiredmanner. A valve-controlled steam pipe 11 leads from a source of steamsupply, enters one end of the tank 10 and is arranged in the form of acoil covering approximately the entire bottom of said tank, then leadsupward and over the top at the opposite end of said tank to a point ofexhaust to the atmosphere, being controlled by a valve 12 near its eXit.A skimming tank or separating tank 13 is mounted alongside the boilingtank 10 and the bottom of said skimming tank is elevated relative to thebottom of said boiling tank. An openin" 14 forms a communication betweenthe boiiing tank and skimming tank near one end, and said openingextends downwardly to the bottom of said skimming tank. A battle plate15 extends transversely of the end of the skimming tank opposite to theopening 14 and is inclined upwardly from the bottom toward thetop ofsuch end portion of the tank. A drain pipe 16 leads from the bottom ofthe skimming tank 13 beneath the bafiie plate 15. A syrup outlet pipe 17leads from the bottom of the boiling tank 10 and said pipe is controlledby a valve 18.

In the practical use ofthe apparatus partially refined or 'defecatedjuice is admitted to the boiling tank 10, being received from adeferator such as is illustrated and described in my companionapplication therefor pending concurrently herewith, filed November 25,1911, serially numbered 662,440. The juice preferably is admitted to thelevel of the bottom of the skimming tank 18. Then steam is admitted toand heats the coiled pipe 11 to the end of heating the juice containedin the boiling tank. Such heating has the effect of causing an expansionof the juice, the lighter portions rising to the top and carrying withthem the suspended impurities. Such lighter portion of juice and scumfiows through the opening 14 and enters the skimming chamber. Here thelight juice and scum encounters the baffle plate 15, quickly cools andseparates, and the scum is removed at intervals by an operator, whopreferably uses a paddle (not shown) to scrape it over said baffleplate, whence it passes off through the drain 16. The remaining juicenow cools rapidly because of its relatively large exposed surface,contracts, and passes back as an undercurrent through the opening 14 tothe boiling tank. This operation continues repeatedly until thesemi-syrup has been entirely purged of its scum and impurities, andafter it has been boiled down to the required consistency it may bedrawn off' through the pipe 17.

I prefer to insert a bar 19 longitudinally of the opening 14 and nearthe bottom thereof to serve to hold back any floating scum when the lastof the juice passes back through said opening to the boiling tank 10during the last stage of finishing.

The object of elevating the bottom of the skimming or separatingcompartment slightly above the juice or syrup in the boiling compartmentis that at no time will there be a body of juice or syrup in the formerchamber to retain the heat, thus insuring a rapid cooling of the liquidand a perfect separation of the impurities from the saccharine matter'.For example, when steam is admitted to the coil in the boilingcompartment the juice or semi-syrup is heatcd and eXpanded and thelighter portions of the juice, scum and impurities are inliated andthrown on top and flow through the opening to the skimming andseparating chamber, where they instantly cool and separate. The scum andimpurities being intlated and much lighter than the juice, they float toor near the baliie plate where they remain until removed by the operatorat intervals. The juice or semi-syrup returns as an undercurrent and theoperation is repeated successively to the desired point, when it is freeJfrom impurities and comparatively free from water and steam inflationand naturally returns to the boiling compartment and is finished to auniform density, leaving a superior product, which is clear, sweet andodorless.

I claim as my invention- 1. A syrup finisher, comprising a boiling tank,a steam coil therein, a skimming tank adjacent to said boiling tank, anopening between said tanks, a baliie plate in said skimming tank, and abar longitudinally of said opening and slightly above the bottomthereof.

2. A syrup finisher, comprising an open boiling tank, valve-controlledsteam pipes therein, a skimming tank alongside of said boiling tank,said skimming tank having its bottom elevated relative to the bottom ofthe boiling tank, a valve-controlled outlet from said boiling tank, anopening between said boiling tank and skimming` tank, said openingreaching to the bottom of said skimming tank, and a bar longitudinallyof and slightly spaced above the bottom of said opening.

3. A syrup finisher, comprising an open boiling tank, valve-controlledsteam pipes therein, a skimming tank alongside of said boiling tank,said skimming tank having its bottom elevated relative to the bottom ofthe boiling tank, a valve-controlled outlet from said boiling tank, anopening between said boiling tank and skimming tank, said openingreaching to the bottom of said skimming tank, a bar longitudinally ofand slightly spaced above the bottom of the opening, an inclined baflieplate in said skimming tank, and a drain leading from said skimmingtank.

Signed by me at Des Moines, Iowa, this twentieth day of November, 1911.

MILTON B. CRESSWELL.

Witnesses:

ERLE W. MILLER, EARL M. SINCLAIR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

